HKB
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Often appears with: trade, markets, and merchants · paper money · money, coin, and credit · john law system · corruption, patronage, and bribery · censorship and the press · anti-clerical satire
Usually: narrative (1) · irony (1) · skepticism (1)
“Everywhere the heart has the same duties: on the steps of the throne of God, if He has a throne; and in the depth of the abyss, if He is an abyss.” Voltaire, Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary · insight
Voltaire’s “Reason” vignette mocks John Law’s paper-money scheme: a rational man criticizes excessive notes and market manipulation, then he confronts Pope, Doge, and Ottoman mufti, each time being punished.
to Rome; he asked for a public audience of the Pope, on condition that he was not interrupted in his harangue; and he spoke to the Pope in these terms: "Holy Father, you are an antichrist and this is how I prove it to Your Holiness. I call antichrist the man who does the contrary to what Christ did and commanded. Now Christ was poor, and you are very rich; he paid tribute, and you exact tribute; he submitted to the …